LJ Knight
( ) |name=Lawrence Jasper Knight |sex=Male |species= |dob=20th |mob=3 |yob=1991 |age=Adult |facs=None |birthplace=Edinburgh, Scotland |height=6'1" |build=Athletic |hair=Dark Blonde |eyes=Green |skin=Caucasian |actor=Andre Hamann |music= }}Overview= LJ is an archivist, scholar, and librarian, taking jobs in whatever of those forms he can manage. He's a serious and intense sort of man, not unfriendly, but not prone to bursts of extroversion or humor either. He enjoys his books, is an occult encyclopedia, and largely keeps to himself, which tends to lend him an aura of quiet mystery. Personality Lawrence Jasper "LJ" Knight is a man haunted by duality. He is both a scholar and a warrior, a creature of valor, but a liar, a creature of justice, but a thief. He is cultured and eloquent, but also at times savage and terrible. In a bright room, he is that discolored stain, but in an otherwise dark sky, he is that single point of light. He is a man who becomes whatever he must for the greatest good, however terrible, but quietly hopes he doesn't have to. LJ doesn't consider himself a hero, or even a good guy for that matter, because he understands the dark things of the world even as he does his best to remove them from it. Maybe one day it'll be his turn. Maybe that's just the way these things work. But he isn't one to dwell, and instead focuses on what he can do now, while he has the time. And so though LJ can seem very intense, driven, and even cold, he is in truth a man of substantial empathy, selflessness, and if not honesty--for his job requires deceit, then at least genuine beneficence. He does not make friends easily, but is loyal to those who can reach and tolerate him, because he is often blunt, forthright, and no-nonsense. Except when he can't afford to be. |-| Sheet= SIGNATURE ABILITY Twilight Antipode Like true antipodes, LJ is possessed of both a great darkness, and great passion for goodness, justice, and empathy. Depending on the need, either of these two poles can be accessed. In the case of the former, only when LJ is in need of great power; and in the case of the latter, only when LJ is surrounded by a great, terrible darkness and is willing to sacrifice himself rather than give in to said darkness. Specifically, if at a critical moment LJ requires great power to survive, for whatever reason, even with the best of intentions, he unlocks the darkness "pole." On the other hand, if a critical moment arises where LJ chooses to knowingly sacrifice himself for others or otherwise resist a great darkness passively, without violence, and without crying out for strength, he unlocks the light "pole." Obviously, it is much more difficult for the latter of these two to occur. In both situations, the empowerment only lasts until the immediate threat is resolved. The dark pole temporarily unlocks the full potential of LJ's were-strain by empowering his Shadowcasting ability from Basic to Supreme, affording it the ability to drain away nearby life, heat (possibly causing ice/frosting), and light, and allowing it to summon creatures and monsters of pure shadow and darkness. After the fact, LJ will be exhausted and may end up giving in to his "Dark Beast" weakness, depending on the circumstances. The light pole temporarily cleanses LJ of his darkness and briefly alters his were-strain, allowing him to exist for a time as a white panther. His Shadowcasting becomes Lightcasting (which is its effective opposite, utilizing creatures made of light and supplying life, heat/energy (fire), and manipulating light), and altering the damage of his natural weapons (to burning/cleansing instead of freezing/corrupting). After the fact, LJ returns to his normal black panther status, exhausted, but perhaps with a little more hope that he doesn't have to live as a cursed panther forever. SKILLS CASTING POWERS ADVANTAGES WEAKNESSES |-| Background= Son of a widowed American father, LJ's formative years were split between the darker elements of Edinburgh's underworld and the campus of its famous university. As a professor of history, said father granted his son access to the library's considerable stacks, often leaving him there for hours at a time in order to consume as much knowledge as possible. He also exposed LJ to culture and finesse, expanded his mind to not reject the unobservable, and instilled in him a powerful desire to always seek, know, and find the truth. That ended when his father became ill, and LJ was forced into the hands of his father's brother-in-law, a scrappy Scotsman who refused to allow a boy of his blood to become a complete dandy. A lifestyle of academic knowledge became a lifestyle of a different kind of knowledge, as his uncle was a fighter, a thief, and a master of subterfuge (or LJ's father would have written him off years prior). He forced adolescent LJ to participate in street fighting, more heists than LJ would ever admit, and together they lived upon a plush bed stuffed full of skullduggery and lies. At some point after his father passed away, LJ's resistance and integrity faded, and he soon came to love this life. It was exciting; he felt powerful. But it, too, came to an end after the theft of an old manuscript from a private collection--a Latin tome of collected esoterica. LJ's studies had never stopped--he was a criminal, not an idiot--and so instead of divesting himself of it, he chose to read. Not unlike Pandora's box, it contained tell of terrible things that are still hazy in LJ's mind, but with one final line that has always stayed with him, like a ray of hope in a dim night sky: "Yet I am not silenced by the darkness." Unfortunately, LJ's opening of the book began of a chain of events that resulted in the book's guardian, a werewolf, finding, catching, and (mostly) killing him. Maybe it had something to do with the book itself, maybe it was a metaphor for the turn towards darkness LJ had taken, but when he woke up as a werepanther many days later, he was given a simple choice. His body had been collected by the werewolf, who had delivered it to the Lady Witch of the house, whose cool voice sang like crystal: "You can stay and learn to use your darkness as a tool for good, or I will kill you myself to ensure it does not leave this house." What the Lady had failed to mention was that becoming her student meant accepting a heavy burden. As far as she was concerned, the fact that the magical wards protecting the manuscript had not stopped him from taking it inferred some kind of universal design, a destiny--a werewolf was odd enough, but the werewolf blood mutating in these circumstances was downright fateful. And so from her, he learned--magic, eloquence, supernatural lore--to a point where she was satisfied his power and knowledge was self-sufficient, and then she sent him away. "Your heritage is darkness. Use it. Find everything in this world that is terrible, and hide it away forever." And so he left. In the intervening years, LJ gathered resources and contacts, hunting down dark artifacts and sending them to Lady Grey for her protection. Eventually, she found this partnership to have exceeded her expectations, and was comfortable with the idea of cutting the leash, so to speak, and allowing him to continue on his own. And so, they essentially parted ways, an extradimensional archive Archive her final gift to him with the understanding he would never bother her again unless extraordinary circumstances required it. |-| 'Ships= |-| Logs= Category:Character